Week 2 Write-Up

This was a week with rather unfortunate matchups across the board. While I thought that some of the matches would be closer than they were, no match ended with a score closer than 4-1. These results certainly reinforced, in my mind, where I would place the teams in advanced at this point in this season.

division dysphoria vs. The On God Team (1-4)

My prediction turned out to be true! While I was not expecting this to be close, On God honestly had a better showing than I expected with lukamine and wild doing a lot of work. However, for all the work that they did, they could not shut down the powerhouses that are Cheers, piney and Diego. Despite the surprising cut of Zokie0 on the part of dysphoria, their new spy itsyAcore proved that he is up to the task of playing spy in Advanced. dysphoria is definitely looking strong going into their week 3 match.

MVPs of the Match: piney, Diego, lukamine


marker and e-boy vs. Banned from RGL (4-0)

An outcome that surprised me even while I was playing the match. While Banned from RGL was clearly a fun team they definitely did not seem like they were up to the task of transferring their experience from 6s to Highlander even on one of the best maps for 6s classes. phone, donovin, and caboose were the only players who really seemed like they knew what they were doing. However, their individual plays were not enough to stop ult (who was subbing for Lehcs), pup, avian, or agb from going absolutely crazy. Shoutout to ult for making the match when main Lehcs slept through it.

MVPs of the Match: ult, pup, avian, and agb


gotta blast vs. The Oprah Winfrey Network (4-1)

Another match that went pretty much as expected. The only big surprise coming out of this match was the truly stand-out performance of rk for OWN but, across most other classes, the complimentary opposing class of G2B simply played better. PsychoPsyduck dropped nearly 600 DPM compared to Joey Lemons 468 DPM. Asides from that, there were simply solid performances by the rest of G2B's combo in Nerdaloid and nazara as well as the predictably solid performances of flank myk and josh. G2B asserted the fact that they are one of the strongest teams in Advanced against perhaps the best up-and-comer OWN.

MVPs of the Match: rk, PsychoPsyduck, Nerdaloid, myk, and josh.


Home Depot eSports vs. STARDUST CRUSADERS (4-1)

The last match that went as expected this week was this matchup between one of the high-mid Advanced teams in Bopis and one of the more middling low-Advanced teams in SC. While I was not expecting it, Luigi put in a lot of work alongside zbra who is from this point forward replacing animus as the main Scout for team BOPIS. While these two players definitely stood out, they were supported by solid performances from norphel08 (who almost got 200 DPM more than glaistig for SC) and tosm (who managed to kill podgy713 7 times, just barely winning the Sniper v. Sniper), Of course, it would be wrong to not mention the excellent performances of podgy713 (who top-fragged for his team) and june (who almost had the same DPM as her Demo). While Home Depot may have suffered an unfortunate loss last week, they put their best foot forward this week and are certainly looking to make this a solid season.

norphel08, Luigi, zbra, podgy713.


1 Korean, 9 Keyboards vs. Turbo Alcoholics (4-1)

While I was expecting this match to be a bit closer than it ended up being, this did not come to pass primarily off of the back of a very solid performance from J_peg (ringing from catch the chach), for 1 Korean, who managed to tie for top-frags in the match while dying only 16 times. Kronky also put in a huge amount of work for 1 Korean as he tied for topfrags with J_peg and dropping 400 DPM on a map usually considered to be pretty bad for snipers. It's worth noting tho that deadpixel for Alcoholics absolutely crushed Kronky in the Sniper v. Sniper, winning it 12 kills with Kronky being almost a third of deadpixel's total kills in the match and propelling deadpixel to being the topfragger for Turbo Alcoholics. Despite solid performances from the combo of TeatsMcGee and Rue on the part of Turbo Alcoholics, it simply was not enough to allow their team to make the match very close especially when their heals were getting rolled by Kami for 1 Korean, who was able to get the most Medic Picks in the Match with 5 kills.

MVPs of the Match: Kronky, J_peg, Kami, deadpixel, and rosario,

catch the chach vs. Bye Week (4-0)

Another Easy Victory for the Boys.

MVPs of the Match: WiLLmaTic, who performed okay when he rang for OWN, and J_peg for fragging out in his ring against 1 Korean.


New Power Rankings

1. marker and e-boy
2. Gotta Blast
3. division dysphoria
4. Home Depot eSports
5. The On God Team (+1)
6. Oprah Winfrey Network (+2)
7. Banned from RGL (-2)
8. 1 Korean, 9 Keyboards (-1)
9. Turbo Alcoholics
10. STARDUST CRUSADERS
11. catch the chach

While the Top and the Bottom of Advanced seem pretty much the same, we can expect some more movement with the matchups next week. I expect that the Bottom of Advanced may look a little different than what I have below and mid-Advanced still seems highly fluid especially with the downward movement of Banned from RGL. Currently there are only 4 spots for playoffs but it seems currently unclear who will be able to take it between Bopis, On God, and OWN. As a brief note about the movement of some teams: OWN has been proving in scrims that they are certainly one of the stronger teams in mid-advanced while Banned from RGL showed in their match vs. marker and e-boy that they are not quite up to snuff for the top of mid-Advanced.

Week 3 Predictions

marker and e-boy vs. division dysphoria (Too Close to Call) MOTW!

The first match between High-Advanced teams this season will almost certainly be a close one, with one team or the other most likely winning 2-1. On a different map, I may have predicted for e-boy to be able to take the W here but dysphoria is is more than solid enough on Upward to contest them. On such a sniper-dominated map we should see yet another stand-out performance from piney for dypshoria but Markers for e-boy is also one of the few snipers in Advanced who even has a chance of being able to control the European frag-demon. Across the rest of the classes there seems to be pretty much even matchups across the board in both combos and both flanks for each team with a strong performance by either brandon for dysphoria or avian for e-boy being capable of swinging the match either way.

Players to Watch: piney, brandon, Markers, avian

gotta blast vs. Home Depot eSports (2-0)

Even though I have Bopis at #4 on my power rankings, I think that there is still a large skill difference between them and the top of Advanced that they will have to overcome in order to place in Advanced this season. With the roster change from animus to zbra likely not helping to even things up against one of the best flanks in the division in myk and josh. That being said, I think that the combo is what will make or break this match and, after seeing how well they did last week, PsychoPsyduck and Nerdaloid for G2B seem to have the upper hand over Luigi and norphel08 for Bopis. That being said, the pick classes could make things close with BMPD for G2B and tosm for Bopis being fairly even on a map where Snipers can often have an outsized impact. However, on a class by class basis, G2B, at least on paper, edges out Bopis and will probably have a fairly comfortable victory.

Players to Watch: BMPD, PsychoPsyduck, josh, tosm, and norphel08.

The On God Team vs. catch the chach (2-0)

While this could potentially be close, I doubt that it will be. The On God team has displayed their ability to have at least some of the players compete with the top of advanced in lukamine. jerry and wild. The same can not be said of catch the chach who have consistently struggled to win not only against high-Advanced teams but also mid-Advanced teams. It seems like it’s just bad luck for chach, who are still struggling to get that crucial first win, to face yet another team in playoff contention in a match after having to play marker and e-boy Week 1. While I believe that WiLLmaTiC and J_peg could probably put up a fight, I think that the combo of attentiondeficit and wild for On God are much stronger than the combo of Sebbers and funky for chach. While the odds are against them, if Sylon or WiLLmaTiC for chach manageto go huge enough, chach may be able to take a round.

Players to Watch: WiLLmaTiC, J_peg, Sylon[DMS], jerry, and wild.

1 Korean, 9 Keyboards vs. Banned from RGL (2-1)

While Banned from RGL may have had bad luck facing a top Advanced team last week, they will likely have much more success versus a more middling Advanced team this week. However, I think that the match will only be close if 1) Banned from RGL actually tries and 2) Meatball, fabulous and phone go off. Otherwise, I think that the proficient Highlander classes for 1 Korean will take the day. The Highlander mains in san antonio 1998 green mustang , Bz, and Bliztank are all rather proficient at their class and will not let the combo of Banned get an easy win. Furthermore, Kronky and Kami showed just how proficient they can be in their last match. I think that these players, along with the newfound lack of an Engineer main for Banned following Nect0 quitting the team, will make it hard for them to win on a map so different from their usual 6s game mode.

Players to Watch: meatball, phone, san antonio 1998 green mustang, Kami, and Kronky.

Oprah Winfrey Network vs. Stardust Crusaders (2-0) .

The final, and perhaps most lopsided, match of this week. Joey Lemons will almost certainly be able to hold his own against new pickup m3ndo on Demo due to m3ndo's lack of experience in the game mode. Furthermore, m3ndo's work is cut out for him as the rest of his combo in Nooomi and fordo are both outclassed by Secrely Satan and Raptoir for OWN. The only favorable class matchups for SC are Sniper where podgy713 for SC certainly has an advantage over tua for OWN and Soldier where june for SC is as strong, if not stronger, than r4t for OWN. However, I doubt these players will be able to put in enough work to take the W here.

Players to Watch: Joey Lemons, rk, pdgy713, and june.

Turbo Alcoholics vs. Bye Week (2-0)

I can only hope that Turbo Alcoholics are able to use this week to sober up and fix some of their weak points so that they’re as prepared as possible to turn the season around going into their match Week 4.

With that being said, I look forward to seeing the results of this week's matches, especially team Markers vs. Brandon and G2B vs. Bopis. The results of these two matches will probably give us a better idea of the placement of the top 3 seeds, and the potential fourth team, as we draw ever-closer to playoffs.